This story has been around for awhile, I have heard several versions of it but no matter how it is told, it is always nice:


A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery.


Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.
That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.



At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature.

Still, the doctor's soft words dropp ed like bombs.

"I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could.

"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one"

Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived.

She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.



"No! No!" was all Diana could say.

She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four.

Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away



But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love.

All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.


There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger.



But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.


At last, when Dana turned two months old. her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.


And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from the hospital, just as her mother had predicted.


Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life.


She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.

One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was practicing.


As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"

Smelling the air and detecting the approach of ! a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."


Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"


Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain."


Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced,
"No, it smells like Him.



It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."



Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children.


Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along.


During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.

Gosh dangit woman!

Stop putting stories like that up.....Geesh.

Now my head hurts............Ow.

Ok...then, I'm gonna post this story Ok?

Nanette.

It was 1981, Hair metal was big, MTV was New, Cable TV has just made it's big debut with Showtime and all the cutting edge shows like "The Larry Sanders Show" and "Comic Relief."

I was 14 years old, and I used to spend lots of time with my buddy down the street, Dion. Yep he was a boy (actually a distant cousin of mine, we sat down and figured that out one day as our Great Grandfathers turned out to be brothers), anyhow Dion Christopher was 12; he hated his name. I used to spend as much time as I could as I was the 3rd oldest of 7 and being that, really could not stand being around kids, ANY kids. I swore that I would NEVER have children....that was my plan, and I was sticking to it.

We were typical teen boys teasing the girls at the catholic school ( ie. flirting) wrestling, playing football, basketball, soccer ...pretty much any sport we could think of to keep us from being bored in the summer, but especially teasing the girls at catholic summer school. ( I didnt even KNOW they had summer schools!)

Anyhow this one particular saturday, we had already planned out the day;
Dion's dad was gonna be working, and his mom was going to be visiting one of her friends and going to the beauty salon...Sooooo we had plenty of time to turn on the TV and watch the cable channels that we weren't supposed to watch.

First on the agenda was "The Seduction" with Morgan Fairchild. Yesss! We pulled out the Giant 30 Gallon trashbag of Popcorn from "The Price Club" (it wasnt Costco back then), the 2 liter bottles of Pepsi...and began watching and gorgeing ourselves on junk food.

Halfway thru the movie the front door opened; Dions mom was yelling something about making sure the bathroom was clean, and went straight to the kitchen, to get started straightening things up.

TV instantly off, junk food put away, we were put to work in 30 seconds flat.

Dion's mom had forgotten a relative was coming over to visit for the day.
She arrived 10 minutes later; just in time to find us finishing up the last minute cleanup.

The visitor was Dion's Cousin and her baby, Nanette. Now I dont remember his cousins' name cause, it was her baby,Nanette who was indelibly burned into my mind after that day. Here's why:
Well, while the ladies were visiting it was suggested that Dion and I watch Nanette.

Now Nanette.....well how do I describe Nanette?

Physically she was a preemie and was small for her age, 4 years old. At 4 years old Nanette knew her alphabet, could read simple words, could count to 100, knew every color you could throw at her, and spoke with a ridiculously mature, clear and concise vocabulary, yet with an unmistakable voice of a tiny child.

She was about 2.5 feet tall, very thin with little tiny hands and feet. She wore a little yellow flowered jumper shorts outfit, a little ruffly white tube top with spaghetti straps and little tiny white sandals on her feet. She had jet black straight hair that hung to the waist with bangs that were cut straight across just above her jet black little eyebrows. She had little tiny facial features and huge black, yes I said "black" eyes. I had never seen that before. And as adorable as this little girl was, she KNEW she was definitely in charge.

Now Dion was the youngest in his family and as such, had never really had to care for little children. I, if you recall, was the 3 oldest of 7 and as such, ALWAYS had to care for children; Small wonder I got the majority of the duties to entertain Nanette, which included, but were not limited to:

- playing catch
- tag
- jumping rope
- "being" a pony
- having a tea party
- helping her dress her little dolls
- playing puppets
- teaching her how to play jacks.
- playing hopscotch
- coloring
- being the students and her the teacher
- telling really corny jokes
- getting her a snacks
- kissing the boo boo ( while playing tag)
and last but not least,
- standing guard outside the bathroom, while she was in there: " Are you still there?" ..."Yes, I'm still here, Nanette".

That kid wore me out, cause after all Dion was no help, whatsoever.

Finally, her mother was leaving, I was so relieved to see them packing things up.
As Nanette was being led out by the hand, she jerked away from her mother, and ran back to me and grabbed my leg, then motioned for me to pick her up. So I picked her up and she squeeze my neck with her tiny little arms, grabbed my face and kissed me and said " I love you. When I come back, are you going to be here to take care of me?"

What could I say?

I could not know that Nanette lived in another state and I would never see her again.

Years later, as my wife was pregnant I lay in bed each night,.... praying that God would be gracious enough to give me a little girl first, with jet black hair and big black eyes.




God is a "Good God"

Okay, who ordered tearjerkers in post tonight?

Geez. I need a beer and a good baseball game after this.


Thanks though....tear tearjerkers are also heart warming.